Free special education visual support! Reduce problem behaviors, increase communication, and decrease prompt dependence with this simple, portable visual.
Bosses who talk to their employees regularly and fearlessly can give you a competitive edge. These are the best questions you can ask.
So you want to start your own beauty brand? If so, you’re in the right place! I’ve spent the last decade leveling up my skills and experience as a digital marketing consultant (specialising in eCommerce) with the ultimate goal of helping women build and scale the beauty businesses of their dreams. Whether your beauty brand is a new pursuit or you’ve been dreaming about creating a beauty brand since you tried your first lipgloss, consider this blog post your official guide to getting started! Getting Started There are a lot of initial “to-dos” when it comes to starting your beauty brand, but the process doesn’t have to be overwhelming if you take it step-by-step. What you’re going to do is break the process of creating and launching your beauty brand into three phases: planning, developing, and marketing. Planning Creating any type of business should always start with a plan. Your business plan doesn’t need to be overly complicated, but it should touch on the following essential points: Your market opportunity. What problem are your customers facing that your business is going to help them solve? How will your business solve the problem and provide unique value/benefits? Your target market. Describe the customers you plan to target. Get specific about their gender, age, income level, education, occupation, etc. The channels you plan to use to communicate with the customers in your target market. Where are your ideal customers spending their time? What social media platforms are they using? For beauty brands, visual platforms like Instagram and TikTok tend to see the most success. Your financial forecast for the year ahead. Be sure to include expenses, profit, expected revenue sources, and expected expenses. Key team members. List up to three key staff members who are supporting your business, if you have any. Describe their position and skills/value. Your next steps. List three major business goals to strive for over the next year. Aim for goals that are SMART — specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Your Niche Product Let’s get one thing straight: there are a lot of beauty brands out there, which is why it’s so crucial to develop an original product with a compelling background or unique focus so that your brand can stand out. This will obviously look different for all beauty entrepreneurs depending on your passions and areas of interest. The most important thing to keep in mind is demand. Is what you are creating in-demand and sought after? Is there a competitor out there who is already smashing it with a similar idea? To figure out if you have a goldmine idea on your hands, spend a solid amount of time conducting market research. You’re also going to want to spend time planning what you want your product to look like (both the product itself and the packaging), the known benefits, potential ingredients, price range, geographical market, etc. Once you have a rough idea of these factors, you can determine what is technically feasible from a production and cost standpoint. Formula Creation & Testing Once you know what your signature product is going to be (and the gap in the market it is going to fill), it’s time to actually start bringing it to life. This is when you’ll begin working with a chemist and/or laboratory to create formulas and test them. Typically, your product will undergo tests relating to physical stability, chemical stability, and microbiology stability to ensure that it will not harm manufacturers, retailers, or consumers in any way (and to assess important information like product shelf life). These prototypes can also help you see what the product will look like and how it will work when it is completely finished — so if you need to make adjustments to the packaging or formula, you can. Mass Production If your product is deemed good to go by both yourself and the chemists involved, the first commercial batch to be sold to consumers will be created. A word of advice? It’s best to work with suppliers who are willing to make smaller batches of your product in the beginning, so that you can see how the product does in the market before upgrading to larger quantity shipments. (Try Formulator Sample Shop if you are looking for a supplier who operates this way!) Branding For beauty-based business owners, branding is everything. If you have an eye for aesthetics, you can work to create your own branding materials — or you can outsource it to a freelance graphic designer for a fee. These are likely the logos, colors, fonts, and graphics that will be associated with your brand and product packaging, so be sure that what you choose feels aligned with your brand and target market. Creating a Website Your website is where your customers can go to learn more about your brand, your product(s), and how to purchase them. If you are starting a commerce-based beauty brand, it is absolutely essential that you have a website. It doesn’t need to be fancy or custom-coded at first, but it should be easy to use and navigate. I recommend Shopify for eCommerce business owners who want an intuitive platform with tons of customisation options and third-party integrations — you can check out some of my favorite Shopify apps here! Social Media Social media is THE place to be for your beauty brand. Instagram, YouTube, TikTok — any visual platform you can use to get visible and promote your product is going to be useful. My best tips for how to grow your social media accounts and build a presence online? Stay true to your authentic voice, be consistent with your posting (don’t fall off the planet for days, weeks, or months at a time!), and invest in high-quality images to fill your grid. Content surrounding your products, the ‘behind-the-scenes’ of your business, and who you are as a founder (your story) does particularly well. Influencer Marketing Influencer marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies modern beauty business owners can utilise to sell products and become more prominent players in the industry. The reason why it works so well is because an influencer’s audience is already primed for and interested in the products they display, making it easier for influencers to simultaneously form an authentic connection with their followers and deepen the consumers’ interest in the product or brand. For more information about what exactly influencer marketing is and how you can get started finding the right influencers to boost your presence and sales, check out our recent blog post covering the topic! If starting your own beauty brand is on your radar in 2022, I’m here to help. Get support surrounding a specific area of business by booking a triage call, or apply for business coaching or consulting if you’re in the market for high-touch, long-term mentorship. I’d love to hear from you and help you scale your beauty brand to 7+ figures, your way.
Our Summarising Texts Poster is a great educational resource that will help you create relevant and engaging English classrooms.
Managing people is time-consuming—and really hard.
Specials are a challenging time for students in special education where they may breakdown. Let's talk about how to support students during specials!
Have you tried mini-schedules (AKA activity schedules) in your classroom yet? They are an AMAZING way to break down activities/ schedules and support students. Mini-schedules are basically mini-task analyses for specific activities in the schedule. When you think about your entire daily schedule (i.g. breakfast, morning meeting, reading groups, math, etc.), you can break down each of those times with mini-schedules! There are many reasons to implement mini-schedules and numerous ways to use and create them. They can be used to support students with a variety of needs and in a variety of settings! Why use mini-schedules? to support students with on-task behavior/ completing tasks to encourage consistency of routines for staff and students to increase independence and self-management skills to create smoother transitions between activities How to use activity schedules: Start by breaking the specific task down into steps. Make sure to include the individual steps in the activity but also remember that this will look different depending on the student(s) you're making the mini-schedule for. The key is differentiating and knowing your students' needs! Think about the different changes that might be needed for the morning work mini-schedule below: One student might need the mini-schedule pictured, while other another student might just need the mini-schedule to have: 1) Get work. 2) Go to spot and start working. Get the schedule in writing and/or pictures. Again, this step will depend on your students' needs. Keep reading for different types of activity schedules and ways to create them! Put the schedule in a space where it's visible to students and staff. You can grab these literacy mini-schedules for FREE here! Types of activity schedules: Turns out the theme of mini-schedules is to differentiate based on your students' needs :-P The amount of text/ pictures and the number of prompts you include in each activity schedule will depend on your students. Written mini-schedules: Written mini- schedules are great for students who are able to read text and don't need picture visuals. You can simply write the mini-schedule on a whiteboard or piece of paper. You can also laminate small written mini-schedules and put on folders/ binders. There are so many options! Picture mini-schedules: There are also tons of options for creating activity schedules with pictures! They don't need to be super fancy or elaborate. I sometimes just write activity schedules out and add some hand drawn pictures (I know I'm not an artist!). You can grab this mini-schedule for FREE here. If you want to grab these mini-schedules, CLICK HERE!
Specials are a challenging time for students in special education where they may breakdown. Let's talk about how to support students during specials!
In today's competitive business world, marketing is essential to the success of any business. However, with so many marketing options available, it can be overwhelming to figure out where to start. Th
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IEP Laws and Regulations Several years ago, I was at a fundraiser. It was for an agency that assists disabled people. So, naturally, they had
Introducing our Behavior Support Badge Cards, designed to assist in managing interactions and communication. Perfect for educators, therapists, caregivers, and more. ***PLEASE MESSAGE IF YOU NEED MORE THAN WHAT’S SHOWINGS AVAILABLE. A CUSTOM ORDER CHECKOUT LINK WILL BE CREATED FOR DELIVERY IN ABOUT 7-10 DAYS*** Laminated option: https://shanelscreationsllc.etsy.com/listing/1717311283 Digital Download option: https://shanelscreationsllc.etsy.com/listing/1717325099 Details: 📏 Approximately 2.13x3.38” double sided print on durable PVC making them tear and fade resistant SET OF 3 INCLUDES: 🛑 STOP (RED) - Use for planned ignoring situations, signaling the need to pause or cease interaction. ⚠️ NEED HELP (YELLOW) - Indicates the individual requires assistance or support. 🟢ALL CLEAR OK TO APPROACH (GREEN)- Signals that it’s safe and appropriate to approach or interact. Support positive interactions and communication with our Behavior Support Badge Reel. Order yours today and make navigating social situations easier for everyone involved! ___________________________ Color Disclaimer: 🖍️Colors may vary slightly due to monitor settings and printing process. Shipping: 📦 Quick Dispatch: Orders typically ship same or next day. 📬 Shipping Updates: Refer to your confirmation email for tracking and shipping details. 🚚 Delivery: Once shipped, order delivery is beyond our control. ___________________________ Return to Shanel’s Creations LLC shanelscreationsllc.etsy.com Subscribe to my email list to stay in the loop about new products & to receive exclusive discounts at https://shopshanel.ck.page/etsysubscriber
I'm sharing the steps I took to grow my business using Pinterest, and how I gained 50,000 Pinterest views in one month!
I'm sharing my top tips on how I doubled my photography income in just 1 year! If you're in a place where you're shooting for a goal, these tips help!
BIP special education is used to teach good behavior and rewards it. Here are the behavior plan templates that every teacher must download, print, and use.
As everyone is getting back into the swing of school work I wanted to share a few fun educational finds that I’ve had good luck with so far. We are honestly not the family who does flash cards or extra worksheets over the summer, and I think that’s totally okay! But around this time of year I always feel refreshed to start on new skills sets for them. I hope that having some of these toys and games around is a good way to sneak in learning. If your kids are anything like mine they can sniff out an educational iPad game in an instant, and then all the sudden they don’t want to play that one. Here are my top six fun educational finds for math and reading: An abacus – This is such a simple thing. I purchased at the start of kindergarten to have on hand at the table when doing math homework. Turns out it was most helpful when learning to count by 10’s. Eventually it made it’s way into the playroom and now my 4 year old goes for it often. He recently showed me how high he could count by ones, totally unprompted, moving a little bead over each time. Anything like willingly gravitate to like that is a win! Sight Word Flash Cards – This is such a nice thorough set with differing levels and a sturdy box. What, flash cards aren’t a toy, you say? I agree and I really don’t like using them like flash cards because my kids groan about it. I recommend these cards because they are so sturdy and perfect for playing “sight word the floor is lava” which is a fun! Kids can’t jump to the next word until they read it out loud, and somehow that works for us. Counting Cubes – These are a great tool for laying out on the table when it’s time for a math worksheet. Maybe it’s not a stand-alone toy or game, but it brings a hands-on activity to a worksheet. These really help my son conceptualize basic math problems. The next thing you know they may be building houses or towers but I think that’s a good thing. It keeps homework time from being dreaded. Reading Blocks – A fun, hands on way to read simple words and understand rhyme. One way to make it a game is to see how many words you can come up with-bonus if you write them all down. You can have siblings work together to see if they can come up with more words than mom or dad. We keep these in the play room and also pack for church now and then. Shut the Box – Would be such a fun game to play outside, I’m adding that to my to do for fall activities. To my kids there is no education in disguise here, just a fun game that has them doing plenty of math without them even realizing it! Highly recommend for ages 4 – adult. Magnetic Sentence Builder – The key for making this fun at my house is to encourage them to build the most outlandish silly sentences possible. It’s just like those word magnets people leave up on their refrigerators and spell out random things. Even I flock to this. Great for rainy days or quiet time. I’d love to hear about any other sneakily educational things that have worked well for your family—leave me a comment letting me know!
After a few weeks of hiatus, here's the next manifesto on dealing with rude people! It's a complement to the How to Deal With Critical People , How To Deal
Everyone wants to sell more of their handmade products. This one trick major retailers to turn more shoppers into buyers can be used in your small business.
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habits of a successful wedding planner: She is organized, invests in her education, takes care of herself physically and financially.
Are you thinking that you might be ready to dive into the education world and coach? Here are 3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start Coaching Others.
Did you know that there are 12 imposing barriers students face when turning in their homework? It’s a dirty dozen made even more potent when our kids feel unsuccessful the entire time they are trying to complete their work. In this 6-minute video, we identify all 12 hazards and give you the gear to get over the walls! It is all about executive functioning and homework. We have four tips that will instantly help your child out of the math mayhem.
Number strips are my favorite of all autism visual supports. I find them to be the most helpful and easy to use so let's get one into your class today!
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Getting into Second Shooting is one of the best and easiest ways to break into the wedding industry and there are just two simple steps that you need to know that will allow you snag these second shooting gigs easily!
The past couple of weeks, we’ve been going over EVERYTHING I do to film, edit, and share my Youtube videos, from the gear and tools I use to how I edit my videos. This week, I’m going over how I then take those videos I create to upload on YouTube and format them to also share on IGTV! Technically, you could share a YouTube video in horizontal form on IGTV… but I personally like to resize it and tweak a few things to make it fit in on IGTV even better, and make it feel like it belongs there (like cutting out the parts that say “Subscribe to my YouTube channel” ha!) Before we dive in, be sure to grab […]
